Forty-Six Sermons in Volume II of the Works by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read the Sermon entitled 'The saints, when absent from the body, are present with the Lord'.
Today's sermon Edwards preached at David Brainerd's funeral. It is based on 2 Corinthians 5:8 'We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.'
Firstly Edwards teaches us that when Christians go to be with Christ, they go to dwell
(i) in the same blessed abode with the glorified human nature of Christ;
(ii) in the immediate, full and constant view of Christ;
(iii) with Jesus Christ as they are brought into a most perfect conformity to and union with him;
(iv) with Christ as they enjoy a glorious and immediate intercourse and converse with him;
(v) with Christ as they are received to a glorious fellowship with Christ in his blessedness.
The second half of the sermon is an exhortation to earnestly seek after this great privilege, that when 'we are absent from the body, we may be present with the Lord'. To drive the exhortation home, Edwards commends the life of Brainerd as an example to follow.
What grabbed me
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Brainerd's diary earlier in the book club, so it was a treat to hear again about that godly man.
Today I particularly liked hearing once more about Brainerd's prayer life: 'He had extraordinary gifts for the pulpit. I never had opportunity to hear him preach, but have often heard him pray; and I think his manner of addressing himself to God, and expressing himself before him, in that duty, almost inimitable; such (so far as I may judge) as I have very rarely known equaled. He expressed himself with that exact propriety and pertinency, in such significant, weighty, pungent expressions; with that decent appearance of sincerity, reverence, and solemnity, and great distance from all affectation, as forgetting the presence of men, and as being in the immediate presence of a great and holy God, that I have scarcely ever known paralleled. And his manner of preaching, by what I have often heard of it from good judges, was no less excellent; being clear and instructive, natural, nervous, forcible, and moving, and very searching and convincing.—He rejected with disgust an affected noisiness, and violent boisterousness in the pulpit; and yet much disrelished a flat, cold delivery, when the subject of discourse, and matter delivered, required affection and earnestness. '
If only more of us were able to pray like that missionary!
Next week's reading
Read the Sermon entitled 'Gods awful judgement in the breaking and withering of the strong rods of a community'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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